Baby Blues

Baby Blues
200px The MacPherson family (Counter-Clockwise; Wanda, Wren, Zoe, Hammie and Darryl)
Author(s)	Jerry Scott, Rick Kirkman
Current status / schedule	Running
Launch date	January 7, 1990
Syndicate(s)	Creators Syndicate (1990–1995) King Features Syndicate (1995–present)
Publisher(s)	Andrews McMeel Publishing
Genre(s)	humor

Baby Blues is an American comic strip created and produced by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott since January 7, 1990. Distributed by King Features Syndicate since 1995, the strip focuses on the MacPherson family and specifically on the raising of the three MacPherson children.

When the strip debuted, the MacPherson family consisted of Wanda and Darryl MacPherson and newborn Zoe. The first strip took place in the hospital room shortly after Zoe was born. Later, two more children—Hammie, the middle child and the only son, and Wren, the youngest child—were added to the family. Both Kirkman and Scott have drawn from their own parenting experiences as a source for the strip's content.

Characters and story

The strip features three families, according to the strip's "Family Tree" page.

Main family (MacPhersons)

• Darryl MacPherson: The father. A manager by profession, he is sometimes unaware of his wife's exhausted state. In various strips, Zoe, Wren and Hammie wait to meet him right when he gets home from work. In some strips, he appears to dislike "The Whistling Monkey Cowboy Band". One example is while Wren is obsessed with the merchandise, Wanda states that Bill Murray and Robin Williams have recently finished working on a "Whistling Monkey Cowboy Band" movie whereupon Darryl retreats to the roof. He also tends to swear when accidentally injuring himself or frustrated. He also tends to make mistakes, such as in Wren's ultrasound, he mistakes Wren for a boy.

• Wanda MacPherson (nee Wizowski): The mother. Though she originally had a job, she chose to become a stay-at-home mother after her children are born. However, she becomes frustrated and jealous of the women she regards as better mothers. She is afraid of snakes. She is sometimes upset with her children but still loves them. She often springs into action without thinking twice, such as when she saw a woman hit her child in the middle of the grocery store and promptly intervened whereupon she got into a major scuffle with the woman in question. She later wondered if she did the right thing or not.

• Zoe MacPherson: Oldest child (first appearance January 7, 1990; her birth starts the strip), age 10. She tends to fuss the most over what Wanda does. She likes to blame things on Hammie a lot, even when she was the one who actually did something wrong. Originally, her middle name was Jennifer, but a strip dated April 9, 2007, identified her middle name was changed to Madison. Zoe is not usually a brat but an average child. This is represented when she is shown playing with toys, watching children's shows, playing with other children, and not having a clear view of the world earlier on in the strip. At one point early on, she was a huge fan of Barbie, though her ideas about how she is a fan of Barbie vary between wanting to become a real life Barbie when she grows up (with Barbie related items) or basically using her to beat up her toys while pretending that she's some sort of monstrous freak (the latter of which was because of Wanda referring to Barbie as a "freak of nature").

• Hamish MacPherson: The middle sibling, usually called Hammie (first appearance April 29, 1995), age 7. He has great fondness and uninhibited enthusiasm for Trucks, and can tell their model by sight, as proven in several strips. His first words were "buh-dozer" and "bazooka," much to Wanda's dismay. He often likes to report when his big sister teases or bullies him, but generally he gets mad less often than Zoe. He also likes driving Zoe mad or watching Zoe get into trouble (without doing anything himself). He was named after his great-great-grandfather, who was called "Ham".

• Wren MacPherson: The youngest sibling (first appearance October 26, 2002). Age 1. She does not seem to be as much of a nuisance as her elder siblings. Wren is a very curious baby. She often is shown climbing on top of things or grabbing at things. She said her first words (First "Ma", then "Da" and eventually "No") on Monday, May 19, 2008. Wanda explained that she thought of her name when a bird collided with a window during breakfast time in the hospital. As of February 16, 2009, Wren is officially able to stand. Wren has also learned the words "up", "down", and "%*@#! cramp". More recently, she had her first birthday.

Additional characters

• Butch and Bunny: Bunny and her seeming perfection in terms of appearance and lifestyle is the target of any possible jealousy from Wanda. Nearly all main adult characters dislike Bunny and have frequently tricked her in some way or another. Bunny seems to be oblivious to how she irritates Wanda, or anyone else around her. She is similarly oblivious to the needs of others and thereby often comes off as self-centered and tactless. Bunny has a husband, Butch. Together, they have three sons: Bogart (the eldest), and identical twins Wendell John and Wendell Jon. The latter two were born August 10, 2002. Zoe has commented that when Bunny is not looking, she shuffles the twins, which proves that even Bunny cannot tell the difference between the two. Bunny once looked for identical twin goldfish for Wendell John and Wendell Jon when they get older.
• Yolanda and Mike: Yolanda and her husband, Mike, are close friends to the MacPhersons. Together, Yolanda and Mike have two daughters: Keesha and Dziko (nickname "Dizzy"), the latter of whom was born November 11, 2002.
• Rhonda Wizowski: Wanda's younger sister. Enjoys the life of being a single woman, except when given a hard time about not "having children and settling down" by her mother. She usually shows up as the babysitter when Wanda and Darryl go out and leave their children behind. She is sometimes even tricked into babysitting for them. Recently, she is shown wanting to find a man and start a family. She was recently shown to have an online relationship with a person named Thom, who called her Linda (He said "I love you, Linda") and caused her to throw wine at her computer; she broke up with him.
• Hugh and Maggie Wizowski: Wanda's parents.
• "Mac" and Pauline MacPherson: Darryl's parents.
• Keesha: Zoe's best friend and neighbor.
• Trent: Best friend of Hammie since Kindergarten.
• Bethany: is a friend of Zoe, who is never seen or heard and is only mentioned by Zoe. She threw a boy-girl party and for some reason did not invite Zoe.

Timeline

The children in Baby Blues have aged as the strip has progressed, although at a slower rate than real-time. Kirkman and Scott have stated that the strip's timeline is "about a 3 to 1 ratio." As of 2011, Zoe, Hammie and Wren are 10, 7, and 1, respectively.

Books

Title	Date	ISBN
Baby Blues: This is going to be tougher than we thought.	April 1991	0-8092-3996-5
She Started It!	September 1992	0-8092-3266-9
Guess Who Didn't Take a Nap?	March 1993	0-8362-1715-2
I Thought Labor Ended When the Baby Was Born	March 1994	0-8362-1744-6
We Are Experiencing Parental Difficulties… Please Stand By	March 1995	0-8362-1781-0
Night of the Living Dad	March 1996	0-8362-1310-6
I Saw Elvis in My Ultrasound	September 1996	0-8362-2130-3
One More and We're Outnumbered!	March 1997	0-8362-2692-5
Check, Please…	March 1998	0-8362-5423-6
Threats, Bribes & Videotape	August 1998	0-8362-6750-8
If I'm a Stay-at-Home Mom, Why Am I Always in the Car?	March 1999	0-8362-7845-3
Lift and Separate	March 2000	0-7407-0455-9
I Shouldn't Have to Scream More Than Once!	August 2000	0-7407-0557-1
Motherhood Is Not for Wimps	March 2001	0-7407-1393-0
Baby Blues: Unplugged	March 2002	0-7407-2323-5
Dad to the Bone	August 2002	0-7407-2670-6
Never a Dry Moment	March 2003	0-7407-3304-4
Two Plus One Is Enough	March 2004	0-7407-4140-3
Playdate: Category 5	September 2004	0-7407-4665-0
Our Server Is Down!	October 2005	0-7407-5445-9
Something Chocolate This Way Comes	April 2006	0-7407-5686-9
Briefcase Full of Baby Blues	April 2007	0-7407-6355-5
Night Shift	October 2007	0-7407-6842-5
My Space	March 2009	0-7407-8089-1
We Are Not Alone	May 1996	0-8362-1325-4
The Super-Absorbent, Biodegradable, Family-Size Baby Blues	September 1997	0-8362-3657-2
Ten Years And Still in Diapers	August 1999	0-7407-0008-1
Butt-Naked Baby Blues	August 2001	0-7407-1852-5
Wall-to-Wall Baby Blues	August 2003	0-7407-3811-9
Driving Under the Influence of Children	May 2005	0-7407-5005-4
Framed!	September 2006	0-7407-6194-3
The Day Phonics Kicked In: Baby Blues Goes Back to School	September 2008	0-7407-7738-6
X-Treme Parenting	April 2008	0-7407-7097-7
The Natural Disorder of Things	October 2009	0-7407-8540-0
It's A Boy	February 2010	978-0-7407-9166-6
It's A Girl	February 2010	978-0-7407-9167-3
We Were Here First	April 2010	978-0-7407-9111-6
Ambushed! In the Family Room	October 2010	978-0-7407-9740-8
Cut!	April 2011	978-1-4494-0182-5
Eat, Cry, Poop	November 2011	978-1-4494-1458-0
Scribbles at an Exhibition	May 2012	978-1-4494-0972-2
BBXX: Baby Blues: The First Two Decades	October 2012	978-0-7407-9828-3

Television adaptation

Main article: Baby Blues (US TV series)

File:Baby Blues characters.png

The characters as seen in the animated adaptation of Baby Blues

In 2000, Baby Blues was adapted into an animated cartoon series which aired on The WB Television Network for a few weeks in the summer, from July 28, 2000 to August 25, 2000. The animated version's timeline was from when Darryl and Wanda first gave birth to Zoe. Mike O'Malley supplied the voice of Darryl while Julia Sweeney played Wanda.

The Baby Blues television series differed from the comic strip by focusing on Darryl and Wanda's relationship with the Bittermans, a neighbor family with three children (Rodney, Megan, and Shelby); Kenny, Darryl's co-worker; and Bizzy, the babysitter for Zoe. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott had little creative control over the animated version.

The WB typically aired two episodes each week, thus enabling eight different episodes to be shown in the five-week run, but abandoned plans to air additional episodes which had been completed. Previously aired episodes were later shown by the Cartoon Network in its Adult Swim block. Like fellow WB primetime animated series The Oblongs and Mission Hill, this show was cancelled after 13 episodes. Thirteen nearly-completed episodes of Baby Blues have never been shown.

The theme song was "It's All Been Done" by the Barenaked Ladies.

External links

• Baby Blues at King Features
• Baby Blues home page
• Baby Blues comic strip